Method for providing a guaranteed playout rate

Abstract

A method for delivering data to first and second processes comprising: identifying a first process communicatively connected to a first data access port; identifying a second process communicatively connected to a second data access port; identifying a data-throughput requirement of the first process via the first data access port; identifying a current data-throughput being delivered to the first process via the first data access port; identifying a data-throughput difference representing a difference between the data-throughput requirement of the first process and the current data-throughput being delivered to the first process; and delivering data to the first process via the first data access port at a rate that meets the data-throughput requirement at an expense, if necessary, of a data rate delivered to the second process via the second data access port.

1 . A method for delivering data to first and second processes, the method implemented by a data processing system and comprising:
 identifying a first process communicatively connected to a first data access port;   identifying a second process communicatively connected to a second data access port;   identifying a data-throughput requirement of the first process via the first data access port;   identifying a current data-throughput being delivered to the first process via the first data access port;   identifying a data-throughput difference representing a difference between the data-throughput requirement of the first process and the current data-throughput being delivered to the first process; and   delivering data to the first process via the first data access port at a rate that meets the data-throughput requirement at an expense, if necessary, of a data rate delivered to the second process via the second data access port, and wherein the delivering of data to the second process via the second data access port is responsive to an analysis of the data-throughput difference.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the analysis of the data-throughput difference includes calculating a time delay, wherein the delivery of data to the second process via the second access port is delayed by a time interval specified by the time delay. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the time delay is further calculated based at least upon a prior-calculated time delay calculated at an earlier time. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the time delay is decreased from the prior-calculated time delay when the data-throughput difference indicates that the data-throughput requirement of the first process is less than the current data-throughput being delivered to the first process. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the time delay is increased from the prior-calculated time delay when the data-throughput difference indicates that the data-throughput requirement of the first process is more than the current data-throughput being delivered to the first process. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the analysis of the data-throughput difference is part of a proportional control process. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the proportional control process is a proportional-integral-derivative control process. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the proportional-integral-derivative control process controls the rate that data is delivered to the second process using a control function, the control function including a proportional term which is proportional to the data-throughput difference, an integral term which is proportional to an integral of the data-throughput difference, and a derivative term which is proportional to a derivative of the data-throughput difference. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first process is a multimedia process. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the multimedia process is a digital cinema video projection process. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the communicative connection between the first process and the first data access port is implemented via ATA over Ethernet. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the communicative connection between the second process and the second data access port is implemented via ATA over Ethernet. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the first data access port is a read-only data access port. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the second data access port is a read-write data access port. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the first and second data access ports are communicatively connected to a data storage device.